The World's Religions Worldviews and Contemporary Issues

For courses in World Religions or Comparative Religions. This introduction to the world's religions provides an orientation to the study of religion; surveys the stages of development, worldviews, and current situations of the major world religions; and discusses the ways these religions respond to contemporary ethical issues. It also presents a sampling of new religious movements and looks to the possible ways the world's religions may interact in the 21st century. Its distinctive "framework for understanding" religious worldviews allows students to compare and contrast the teachings of religions objectively.

William Young is Professor of Religious Studies at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. In addition to The World’s Religions:  Worldviews and Contemporary Ethical Issues (3^rd edition, 2009) he is co-author (with Christian Hauer) of the widely-adopted textbook An Introduction to the Bible: A Journey into Three Worlds (Prentice Hall, 7^th edition, 2008) and author of Quest for Harmony:  Native American Spiritual Traditions (Hackett Press, 2006). During a thirty-five year teaching career, he has introduced generations of students to the world’s religions and taught a wide variety of special topic courses ranging from Religion and Politics to Spiritual Ecology: Religion and Nature.